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Therefore he AM OKC’S RESIDENT RAP SUPERSTAR JABEE CONFRONTS HIS OWN SELF-DOUBT ON FIRST PART OF MULTI-EP PROJECT By Brett Fieldcamp
There is another pandemic coming hot on the heels of the ongoing one we’ve all come to know and loathe. A pandemic of doubt. In addition to the tragic and continuing toll that COVID-19 has taken on our world, it’s also left a number of lingering and demoralizing questions in its wake, especially for artists and creators. What is the value or meaning of creating collaborative, communal art and entertainment if our communities are so fragile, if the entire industry can grind to a halt? When there is so much to fear from one another, can we still aim for connection and understanding without being doubted or becoming irrelevant? Or as Jabee puts it, AM I GOOD ENOUGH? That’s the central question that stands to resonate throughout Jabee’s recently announced fourpart conceptual EP project, with the first installment, AM, set to drop on his birthday, Aug. 12. He headlines a release show that night alongside a genre-straddling lineup including Sarafina Byrd, Stringsmen and Brandon Birdwell at Tower Theatre. With this project, Jabee says he’s confronting his own overwhelming COVID-corrupted confidence head-on by re-examining his life and his journey alongside four different producers, four different musical approaches and an ever-expanding roster of guests and collaborators. Each EP is said to be inspired by different elements and periods of Jabee’s life, and AM, fittingly, sees him exploring his own mind and his own existence, not only in the present tense, but in the concepts, environments, and circumstances that informed the life he lives today. Kicking off with the self-realization anthem “Find Yourself,” this installment’s stylistic approach announces itself clearly. Backed by producer Derek Minor, known primarily for his own more gospel-influenced hip-hop, Jabee
i m bu e s t he entire record with the formative music of his youth, from the passionate gospel singalongs to the old-school piano loops and funky breakbeats of Golden Age rap. T h e r e ’s a nostalgic optimism and idealism at play here that recalls a bit of childlike naivety, but the messages aren’t sugar coated or Album art for AM by Jabee. Photo provided. softened, espemostly it’s a shockingly delicate cially when getting real about the and wistful look into the heart of city he calls home. the community and both the love When considering his own and the shared turmoil that has status as Oklahoma City’s reigning kept it together. king of the game on standout track AM is a remarkable and poten“Aquimibee,” he offers “Your tially even risky way to launch whole connection is the stolen this “AM I GOOD ENOUGH” essence,” understanding that the project. It’s musically dense and culture and history that he upholds creatively melodic in ways that is exactly the element that the city you don’t find in a lot of mainhas worked to erase and pave over stream rap lately, but more than for decades. On gospel-tinged that, the six tracks on this EP all protest track “How Many More,” feel connected by something that he opens with, “Somebody asked you don’t often see or hear in how I became an activist. I don’t hip-hop at all: sadness. know. Someone asked a question, It might be safe to say that and I answered it.” The implicaJabee has crafted the genre’s first tions of the nature of truth and the serious look at the nature of the rebelliousness of honesty speak game post-COVID and maybe for themselves. even the first real antidote to the Which brings us to this first inencroaching pandemic of doubt. stallment’s finale, “Eastside with Because if he can doubt himself Love,” both a love letter to eastside and still produce something this OKC and a lamentation of its conhonest and strong, then maybe we tinuing dismissal by the city. all still can. Joined by a host of eastside talents, Tickets are $15-$20. each telling their own homegrown Visit towertheatreokc.com stories in the form of namedropped streets and hyper-local references, this track is as much a community-defining anthem as any chart-topper about NYC or LA. As with every track on AM, there are quick moments of fun and hints of defiant posturing, but
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